# How to copy a permit
Existing permits can be copied by following the instructions in this article. A copied permit's state is reset to that of a newly-created permit i.e. pending category signoff.
TIP
A permit can only be copied if this feature is enabled on the permit. If disabled, the copy permit icon 
will be grayed out.
To enable this feature, refer to admin permit overview and admin permit templates or contact your Civillo administrator.
- Find the permit you want to copy
Follow the instructions on how to view a permit.
- Create a duplicate permit
Under Actions in the permit summary panel, click the icon. This will open a dialog asking you whether you wish to proceed. Click confirm to open the permit creator panel with details from the selected permit loaded in.
- Fill out information
The following features of the copied permit are retained in the duplicate:
- Template (cannot be changed)
- Description
- Layers
- Permit area
- Valid from date/time
- Categories
- Category responses (standard categories only)
- Category layers
- Category attachments
- Signature requirements
- Attachments
- Whether to show legend layers only
You are able to adjust each of these features (except the template) in the permit creator panel. Note that permit area and categories each require confirmation before creating the duplicate, as with creating a permit from scratch.
- Request the copied permit
Click Submit to request the permit.
# Notes on copying permits
As noted above, a copied permit does not retain the state of the permit from which it is copied.
When copying a permit, its categories and templates are used to define much of the information for the duplicated permit. Since the categories and templates may have changed after the original permit was created, the permit being copied must hence satisfy the following conditions in order to not be considered "stale":
- Copied permit's template must still exist.
- Categories of the copied permit must match those of the permit template.
- For each category of the copied permit, associated layers must match that of the corresponding template category.
- For each category of the copied permit, the set of response items (prompt, type, dependency response and options for each item) must match that of the corresponding template category.
If a permit is found to be stale, it will not be copied and a message will be displayed with the reason for staleness and promopting the user to create a new permit instead.
For signature requirements (for both permits and categories), copying a permit will attempt to carry over the selected requirements (whether group or individual requirement) from the existing permit to the new permit. These will be successfully carried over if they are still present in the category/template. If additional requirements have been added to the category/template since the permit was created then these will also have to be filled out. Finally, if requirements have been reduced, then the copier will be prompted to reduce the amount of selected signature requirements.
Similarly, for respondents, selected users are carried over to the new permit if present in the template, and the set of available users is as defined in the template.
For holders, the new permit will always use those defined on the template (i.e. not from the existing permit).